The Systems Building Research Alliance, formerly the Manufactured
Housing Research Alliance, is a non-profit organization with the mission
of developing new technologies to enhance the value, quality, and
performance of the nation's factory built homes, both manufactured
and modular. SBRA's research supports the industry by developing new
methods for using factory built homes in a wide array of housing applications,
by solving technical challenges, and by paving the way for innovations
in home design, construction, and installation. To carry out its mission,
SBRA develops, tests, and promotes better methods and materials for
designing, manufacturing, and marketing factory built homes. These
activities include research, new product development, training and
educational programs, testing programs and demonstrations, commercialization
efforts, workshops, conferences and other events.

Members of SBRA
include home manufacturers, retailers and community owners, suppliers, consumers,
associations, financial institutions, insurance companies, power suppliers, and
other research organizations involved in the factory built housing industry. Working
together, and in partnership with other organizations, members chart the course
for SBRA's initiatives and are the catalyst for moving results into practice.
Pooling the varied experiences and perspectives of its members, SBRA is able to
provide practical, marketable solutions to the challenges and opportunities facing
factory built housing. Factory built housing is the fastest growing and most vibrant
part of the home building industry. Today, one-third of all single family sales
and one-fourth of all new single family housing starts in the nation are factory
built homes. Demand for factory built homes continue to grow as more homebuyers
and developers recognize that factory built housing offers quality homes at affordable
prices. At the same time, industry continues to seek ways to enhance the value
of new factory built homes. Fostering technological advances and building innovation,
SBRA plays a vital role in this process.

By
developing and promoting new technologies and manufacturing methods, SBRA is helping
to shape the factory built housing industry. As the industry's research and development
arm, SBRA has set its sights on accomplishing the following objectives:

Help industry improve construction of its homes and
building methods

Encourage design
flexibility while leveraging the advantages of factory fabrication and standardization

Identify potential public and private
sector support for research and development

Advance
industry installation programs

Eliminate
technical barriers to the use of factory built homes for new markets including
multistory, single-family attached, inner city and in-fill, and hybrid housing
designs

Educate policy makers and
the general public about the importance of factory built housing and its related
research